Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was 5.5% higher last month compared to December 2019, according to figures released today (Friday, January 29) by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Some 254.8 million litres were taken in last month, an increase on the 241.4 million litre figure for the same month of last year.

Looking at the whole-year figure, around 8.29 billion litres were taken in throughout 2020, a 3.8% increase on the total figure for 2019, which was some 7.99 billion litres.

Breakdown

Looking at the figures in more detail, they show that total milk sold for human consumption fell in December 2020 compared to December 2019, from 41.8 million litres down to 38.6 million litres.

This decrease was also present on a whole-year basis. Throughout 2020, a total of, 523.6 million litres of milk were sold for human consumption, down from the 533.2 million in 2019.

Of these figures, whole milk sales decreased in December 2020 compared to the same month of 2019. Last month the figure was 24.4 million litres, compared to 25.8 million litres 12 months earlier. On a whole-year basis though, whole milk sales increased from 333.1 million litres in 2019 to 337.1 million litres in 2020.

For skimmed and semi-skimmed milk, 14.2 million litres were sold in December 2020, down from 16.1 million litres in December 2019. Throughout all of 2020, 186.5 million litres were sold, down from 200.1 million litres in 2019.

Butter production saw a very marginal dip in December 2020 compared to December 2019, dropping from 10,900t to 10,800t. The whole-year figures showed an opposite trend, with butter production standing at 262,600t in 2020, up from 250,800t in 2019.

There was no December figure available for skimmed milk powder production, but the provisional whole-year figure for 2020 was 141,600t, down slightly from 142,500t in 2019.